Category: Quotes

To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” ~ George Orwell (source)

The Whole Image

Art Allows You to See Anew

The world is never seen nor will be seen as you see it and there is no proof that we see and experience the world the same way. Art allows the artist to break the barriers delve deeper and blend the essence of being with the visual experience. That allows a solo experience to turn into a shared experience. In a sense art creates a communal experience, one that can ignite imaginations, examination, and self-study.

Permission to Crop

I haven’t done the big reveal yet, but it is coming. This photo and the last are both clipped from a larger photograph that will be posted later this week. Both plus the original are good compositions. The image above was the intended focal point of the original and it still is. By cropping this image, I am drilling down to its essence.

Over the last few days, I have considered this whole idea about of impressionism and its relationship to my photographs and work, my art, and my place in the art world. No conclusions reached, but I have to admit I do get discouraged at times. I’m not as good as I want to be, not noticed for my efforts as I wish to be, and can’t stop working and creating new pieces. Maybe it is grandiosity and I should be happy that I have the tools at my disposal to create as I wish and be absorbed in the work when I chose to photograph and create my digital images. Perhaps, maybe I am too distracted by work and family. Perhaps, one day after I retire, I will be able to laser focus, but until then I will continue to play, get lost in my artwork as I blend, crop, alter, shift color, and try to speak to what I see and feel.

Impressionism in Photography

Learning is a lifetime endeavor. At least that is what I figured out years ago and the other day I really learned something that is very important to me and that is how to describe my artwork… And that is Impressionistic photography.

A couple of days ago, I found a term that describes my work well… Impressionism… And this quote by Matisse pretty much wraps it up for me. The term has been around for some time and I discovered it on a blog that I found just the other day. Art Lark.org — An Alternative Cultural Daybook explores many topics with an ease that I normally do not find amongst art educators or critics. The work that the authors have put into this blog is amazing.

So briefly, how does the term fit my work?

For those that have followed my work and my writings you have seen I love to play with the images I take, primarily to show the world in other ways rather stark reality and we all know reality is fleeting. My reality is not yours. Yours is not mine. The fact is your and my reality is a function of our life experiences and physiology. Impressionism has been just that… In its simplest term, it is one’s own impression of the world. It is the artist’s reality, that is being shared with the world.

So thank you, Art Lark for teaching me something new this week and Matisse for sharing a thought that I will live with for some time.

Darn… Technology, Love it or Hate it.

Maybe too long, but this is what has been happening, Google has changed its ranking system to take into account whether or not the site is responsive and it is serious about making the pages more mobile accessible. (source) So I had to do some research. Although, I am a designer and claim to be a web designer to boot. I needed to find a WordPress theme that worked for me. The WP’s 2016 Theme seemed to do the trick. I tested it, I found the transition was not going to be smooth. Ugh!

Well, after much hand wringing and fretting, I buckled down and took notes on exactly what I needed to do. The list was long. I was motivated into action when I saw my search engine rank drop. I am pretty happy with most of the changes. I have to restore a couple of galleries and make a few more tweaks, but Art Changes Lives is responsive and up and running.